88 Facts About Jiang Wei

Jiang Wei, courtesy name Boyue, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

In 228, when Wei's rival state Shu launched an invasion led by Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wei was distrusted by Ma Zun, then administrator of Tianshui Commandery.

Zhuge Liang, the Imperial Chancellor and regent of Shu, highly regarded Jiang Wei and appointed him as a general in Shu.

Between 240 and 262, he continued Zhuge Liang's legacy of waging war against Wei by leading another 11 military campaigns.

However, Jiang Wei's campaigns were relatively constrained in terms of both scale and duration due to Shu's limited resources and inadequate food supplies, as well as internal political faultlines.

In 263, when Wei launched a massive invasion of Shu, Jiang Wei led Shu forces to resist the invaders at Tazhong, Yinping and Jiange, himself defending Jiange which was under Zhong Hui's attack.

Jiang Wei was from Ji County, Tianshui Commandery, which is present-day Gangu County, Gansu.

The Fu Zi recorded that Jiang Wei was a fame-seeking person with great ambitions.

Jiang Wei began his career in his native Tianshui Commandery, which was a territory of the state of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period.

Jiang Wei started out as a clerk in charge of records and later became an assistant officer under the commandery administrator.

Jiang Wei occupied Mount Qi and deployed his troops there in orderly formations.

Jiang Wei decided to join Guo Huai and move to Shanggui County instead.

When Jiang Wei returned to Ji County, the people welcomed him back and insisted that he meet Zhuge Liang.

Unable to return to Ji County and left with no other option, Jiang Wei decided to defect to Shu and follow Zhuge Liang.

Later, Jiang Wei was commissioned as General Who Upholds Righteousness and enfeoffed as the Marquis of Dangyang Village.

Jiang Wei was promoted to the rank of General Who Attacks the West and given the appointment of Central Army Supervisor.

Jiang Wei was put in command of Chengdu's armed forces and promoted from a village marquis to a county marquis under the title "Marquis of Pingxiang".

Jiang Wei put Jiang Wei in charge of a separate force to make incursions into Wei territory.

In 240, Jiang Wei led Shu forces to attack the Wei-controlled Longxi Commandery but was driven back by Wei forces under Guo Huai's command.

Three years later, Jiang Wei was promoted to the rank of Senior General Who Guards the West and appointed as the nominal Inspector of Liang Province.

Jiang Wei shared power with Fei Yi by jointly holding the office of Manager of the Affairs of the Masters of Writing with him.

When Jiang Wei led Shu forces into Liang Province to support the Qiang rebels, Baihuwen and Zhiwudai led their forces to join him.

Jiang Wei attacked Xiahou Ba's position at the west of the Tao River but retreated back to Shu when Wei reinforcements led by Guo Huai showed up.

In 248, Jiang Wei led Shu forces from Shiying to Qiangchuan to rendezvous with the tribal king Zhiwudai, who had recently been defeated by the Wei general Guo Huai at Longyi County He left his subordinate Liao Hua behind to guard the fortress at Chengzhong Mountain.

Guo Huai split his army into two groups with the aim of preventing Jiang Wei from meeting up and combining forces with Zhiwudai.

Jiang Wei led one group to attack Liao Hua at Chengzhong Mountain to force Jiang Wei to turn back to save Liao Hua.

Guo Huai's plan succeeded as Jiang Wei turned back to save Liao Hua when he learnt that Chengzhong Mountain was under attack.

Jiang Wei had two fortresses constructed at Qushan.

When Jiang Wei led troops from Mount Niutou to reinforce the two fortresses, Chen Tai led a Wei army to block his path.

Jiang Wei became fearful so he pulled back all his troops and abandoned the two fortresses.

Three days after his apparent retreat, Jiang Wei sent Liao Hua to lead a small force to distract Deng Ai at Baishui while he led the main army to attack Taocheng.

Jiang Wei failed to capture Taocheng as Deng Ai had already strengthened its defences so he withdrew all his troops and returned to Shu.

In 250, Jiang Wei led Shu forces to attack the Wei-controlled Xiping Commandery.

Jiang Wei believed that he was familiar with the culture of the Qiang and other non-Han Chinese tribes in western China, and had great confidence in his skills as a military leader.

Jiang Wei often boasted that he could easily conquer the Wei-controlled lands in present-day Gansu if he had the support of the Qiang and non-Han Chinese tribes living in the region.

Jiang Wei eventually withdrew all his forces and retreated back to Shu when they ran out of food supplies.

Jiang Wei then pressed further to attack Xiangwu County and engaged the Wei general Xu Zhi in battle.

In 255, despite strong objection from a fellow Shu general Zhang Yi, Jiang Wei went ahead with another campaign against Wei and even brought along Zhang Yi as his deputy.

When Jiang Wei wanted to take advantage of the momentum to press on and besiege Didao, Zhang Yi advised him to stop advancing further because they would risk losing everything they had gained so far.

Jiang Wei ignored him and ordered his forces to surround Didao.

Jiang Wei then attacked Deng Ai at Mount Wucheng but was driven back.

However, Hu Ji failed to show up in time so Jiang Wei came under attack by Deng Ai and his army sustained heavy casualties.

In 257, when the Wei general Zhuge Dan started a rebellion in Shouchun, Jiang Wei decided to take advantage of the situation to stage another invasion of Wei.

Jiang Wei led Shu forces to attack the Wei garrisons near the Great Wall which were well-stocked with supplies but poorly defended.

The Jiang Wei forces stationed there started panicking when they heard of the Shu army's approach.

Jiang Wei then retreated to Mangshui and set up a camp there with its back facing a mountain.

In 258, after Jiang Wei received news that Wei forces had suppressed Zhuge Dan's rebellion, he withdrew his troops and returned to the Shu capital Chengdu.

Jiang Wei retreated to Tazhong and garrisoned there.

Jiang Wei knew that given his background as a defector from Wei, he had to prove his loyalty to Shu so he was eager to gain glory in battle.

However, despite leading eleven campaigns against Jiang Wei, he had not made any significant achievements.

Jiang Wei had long suspected that Huang Hao had something against him so he remained in Tazhong and did not return to Chengdu after the eleventh Northern Expedition.

The Chronicles of Huayang recorded that Jiang Wei hated Huang Hao for his power-grabbing behaviour and once advised Liu Shan to execute the eunuch.

Jiang Wei managed to convince Huang Hao to let him remain in Tazhong to oversee agricultural production.

In 263, Jiang Wei wrote a memorial to Liu Shan as follows:.

The Shu officer Jiang Wei Shu opened up the pass and surrendered to the enemy, while his colleague Fu Qian died trying to defend the pass.

Jiang Wei did not reply and ordered his troops to strengthen their defenses at Jiange.

When Jiang Wei first heard that Mianzhu had fallen, he received confusing information about the situation in Chengdu.

Jiang Wei thus prepared to abandon Jiange and lead his troops to Qi County, which was nearer to Chengdu, to verify the truth.

Jiang Wei sensed that Zhong Hui had the intention of rebelling against Wei and sought to exploit this opportunity to stage an uprising and restore Shu.

At the time, Jiang Wei was collecting his armour and weapons from Zhong Hui when they heard shouting and received news that a fire had broken out.

Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei fought the mutinying soldiers and slew about five or six of them, but were eventually overwhelmed and killed.

The Chronicles of Huayang recorded that Jiang Wei was only pretending to cooperate with Zhong Hui.

Jiang Wei first instigated Zhong Hui to execute the Wei officers who were unwilling to join the rebellion, and then sought to find an opportunity to assassinate Zhong Hui.

Jiang Wei wrote a secret letter to Liu Shan as follows:.

The Tang dynasty general Jiang Baoyi and chancellor Jiang Ke were descendants of Jiang Wei according to the table of chancellors' family trees in the New Book of Tang.

Jiang Wei cited seven writers who held different and discordant views of Jiang Wei.

Bo Yang himself declined to comment but later shared in an open letter to a reader that he agreed with all seven views: Jiang Wei committed a fatal error in draining Shu's resources but he was a loyal general who was willing to sacrifice himself in a futile attempt to restore Shu.

Jiang Wei is very thorough and detailed in his thinking.

Jiang Wei is truly a great talent from Liang Province.

Jiang Wei kept his spending within the limits of his state-issued allowance.

Jiang Wei did so ungrudgingly because he felt satisfied with what he already had.

Jiang Wei was originally from Wei yet he defected to Shu and betrayed his ruler for personal gain.

Jiang Wei abandoned his family to lead a meaningless life.

Jiang Wei possessed not a single one of these six values.

In reality, Jiang Wei was nothing more than a traitor to Wei and an incompetent head of government to Shu, yet Xi Zheng said he was worthy of serving as a role model.

Jiang Wei was isolated and Liu Shan was an incompetent ruler.

Jiang Wei only saw how fast his predecessor recovered from defeats, and failed to realise that he did not have a capable deputy like Fei Yi to take charge of internal affairs.

Jiang Wei was significant to Shu in the same way Zhang Shijie and Lu Xiufu were significant to the Southern Song dynasty.

When Zhong Hui wanted to retreat after failing to breach Jiange, Jiang Wei nearly gained the glory of successfully defending Shu from an invasion.

However, Deng Ai took a shortcut, bypassed Jiang Wei, defeated Zhuge Zhan and conquered Chengdu.

The Shiyu recorded that Jiang Wei had no equal among the talented persons serving in the Shu government during his time.

Jiang Wei is a major character in the later chapters of the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which romanticises the historical events and figures of the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of China.

Jiang Wei first appears in Chapters 92 and 93 as a Wei military officer serving in Tianshui Commandery during Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition.

When Zhuge Liang tries to trick Ma Zun, the Administrator of Tianshui, to lead his troops out of Tianshui to save the Wei general Xiahou Mao in Nan'an Commandery, Jiang Wei sees through Zhuge Liang's ruse and advises Ma Zun to remain in Tianshui and set a trap for the enemy.

When Jiang Wei gets cornered, he attempts suicide but Zhuge Liang stops him and manages to convince him to surrender and join Shu.

Jiang Wei accompanies Zhuge Liang on his subsequent Northern Expeditions.

Jiang Wei appears as a playable character in the video game series Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi produced by Koei Tecmo.

Jiang Wei appears in Koei Tecmo's Romance of the Three Kingdoms series.